Newport Beach man pleads not guilty to molesting L.A. schoolgirls

Los Angeles Unified School District retired elementary school teacher Robert Pimentel, 57, appears at his arraignment on sex-abuse charges at L.A. County Superior Court in Long Beach on Thursday.POOL, GETTY IMAGES

LOS ANGELES – For decades, Robert Pimentel was a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District. During that time he raised a family, coached soccer and avoided problems with the law.

But police said that during the last school year, Pimentel fondled some of his female students at George De La Torre Jr. Elementary School and even a co-worker; that led to his arrest this week.

On Thursday, the 57-year-old appeared in court and entered a not-guilty plea to 15 felony counts. His attorney maintained his client is innocent.

"If you look at the record, before this, Pimentel has had a pretty exemplary life," said his lawyer Richard Knickerbocker. "He has no arrest record, for anything."

It took nearly a year to bring charges against Pimentel, who lives in Newport Beach, and the investigation began just weeks after the arrest of another Los Angeles elementary school teacher, Mark Berndt, who has pleaded not guilty to 23 counts of lewd conduct involving students.

After that scandal, at the district's Miramonte Elementary School, the district mandated that parents be notified within 72 hours of a report of a suspected abuser, and that each case be reviewed by several human resources staffers to ensure it is reported to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

District officials vowed to investigate molestation claims and move quickly to remove suspected teachers from classrooms while investigations are ongoing which apparently occurred in Pimentel's case.

Police were contacted in March by the parents of five students who said Pimentel had touched their children inappropriately. District officials immediately removed him from campus and notifications were sent out.

More than 70 interviews were conducted during the police investigation, and 20 female students were found to have been victimized, Los Angeles police Capt. Fabian Lizarraga said. A female teacher also complained that Pimentel had inappropriately touched her, police said.

Lizarraga said Pimentel fondled the students in his fourth-grade classroom during school hours and in some cases was witnessed by other students. The sexual abuse involved fondling over and underneath clothing, he said.

The Pimentel case may have been the first in the district that fell under the new policy, district Superintendent John Deasy said.

"It was very close to the first, if not the first," he said. "I don't know if it was a direct result (of the Miramonte case). There was a potentially serious problem there and we acted and did what we did."

Lizarraga added that although there was a spike in parent complaints after the Miramonte case, there wasn't any tie to the Pimentel case.

"These were some really alert parents knowing their kids and noticing subtle changes in their personalities," Lizarraga said.

The accusations against Pimentel span eight months, dating back to September 2011.

Related Links

Los Angeles Unified School District retired elementary school teacher Robert Pimentel, 57, appears at his arraignment on sex-abuse charges at L.A. County Superior Court in Long Beach on Thursday. POOL, GETTY IMAGES
Former George De La Torre Jr. Elementary fourth-grade teacher Robert Pimentel, left, listens to his attorney Richard Knickerbocker at his arraignment at Los Angeles Superior Court in Long Beach on Thursday. Pimentel, who worked for nearly four decades in the Los Angeles Unified School District, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of sexually abusing 20 students and one adult, police said. JEFF GRITCHEN, AP
Robert Pimentel, left, and his attorney Richard Knickerbocker attend Pimentel's arraignment on sex-abuse charges with Judge James Otto in Long Beach on Thursday. POOL, GETTY IMAGES
A woman escorts a child into George De La Torre Jr. Elementary in the Wilmington area of Los Angeles on Thursday. Robert Pimentel, a fourth-grade teacher at the school until last year, has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting 20 students and one teacher at the school. DAMIAN DOVARGANES, AP

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